Dick McBride and George Zettlein: Thorns in the Red Stockings’ Side

Little Bobby Mathews (all of 5-feet-5½ inches) twirled a gem of a ballgame to initiate play of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. But the Fort Wayne Kekiongas’ fantastic 2-0 victory over Cleveland on May 4, 1871, was not a harbinger of scores to come as it was soon proved to be a fascinating anomaly. Though nine Association teams battled through another 126 games that inaugural season, no contest came close to that low a run total.

That was especially true in games played by the Boston Red Stockings, whose bats were lethal to opposing pitchers. The average score of a second-place Red Stockings game was 13-10, and that did not decrease much over the next four NA championship campaigns, despite better pitching and all-around play. Completely shutting down the Bostons was thought impossible; even allowing them just a single run was extremely rare, even in theory. About a dozen opposing hurlers had their isolated moments of such glory during the Association’s five years, but two stood out with several grand feats against the original Big Red Run Machine. Philadelphia’s manager-pitcher John Dickson McBride and Brooklyn native George Zettlein (who hurled for four teams of that era, mostly Chicago) were the sharpest thorns in Boston’s side.

Civil War Union Navy veteran Zettlein had history with some Boston players, since four of them played for the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-70. At Brooklyn’s Capitoline Grounds on June 14, 1870, it was George “The Charmer” who snapped the iconic Porkopolis boys’ string of 71 wins, proving Cincy’s squad was slightly mortal by edging them, 8-7 in 11 innings.

McBride was no surprise newcomer to the Red Stockings, either. He was a fixture in Philadelphia base ball since the early 1860s as an infielder and crack pitcher. There were five workhorse hurlers in the Association during its stint from 1871-75. Boston’s Albert Spalding (2,346⅔ innings), Bobby Mathews who hurled for three clubs (2,221⅔), McBride of the Athletics (2,049), Zettlein of Troy, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Philadelphia (1,942⅔) and Candy Cummings of four teams (1,778 frames in four seasons).

Boston’s Stockings were held to four runs or fewer 44 times in five years (15 percent of their 292 games). Fifteen of those games belonged to McBride (9) and Zettlein (6). What was most telling of the twosome was that each of the seven games in which Boston made only one run (four times) or no runs (chicagoed in three) were pitched by George or Dick. Statistically the records of both tossers versus only the Bostons were poor, McBride 13-24-3 and Zettlein 10-22, but in comparison to all others who tried, they looked very good. Boston won 79 percent of its games thanks to the better fielding and hitting they put forth on the diamond. Though Spalding benefited greatly because of this talent, he was a stellar pitcher in his own right. It was a depressing combination to oppose year after year. Against McBride and Zettlein, Boston won 66 percent of its games. When the “thorns” faced each other, just about the same amount of excitement was generated as when they played Boston. Zettlein had the upper hand, winning 13 of 22 games with one tie. His winning record was due mostly to 1873, when he defeated McBride seven straight times, two games by one run, one in 13 innings, and another by two tallies. All these games were in McBride’s Philly ballpark. As the Association was ending in 1875, the fading star duo matched up only once, October 4, with McBride winning 19-10. In their 23 career matchups, the run totals were 189-182 in Zett’s favor. Strangely symmetrical, there were only three games in which both sides scored the normal 10 or more runs, their first match in 1871, the last in 1875, and a game in June 1873 that was played in rain, sawdust piles and the dark, according to the New York Clipper. Zett won, 27-17. As for the other NA “horses,” Mathews was 8-30 versus Boston while Candy posted a 7-19 mark.

During the first three NA seasons, both McBride and Zettlein fought the Reds to a near-standoff, as McBride was 10-10-1 and Zett, 7-9. In the following two years Harry Wright’s Stockings got better despite efforts by a few clubs to sign better players to curb the Reds’ domination. In 1874-75 McBride was just 3-14-2 and George was humbled at 3-13, his wins being two shutouts and a 17-16, 10-inning victory versus Harry Wright, not Spalding. The average score in 40 McBride-Reds matches was 9-6, while for Zettlein it was 10-7. It must be remembered that in August 1874 McBride pitched many more exhibition games versus the Reds during the famous barnstorming trip to England, so Boston was even more familiar with his style of pitching.

It was true that constantly losing the close games caused both hurlers much consternation. Each lost four one-run games to Boston, and McBride a two-run game and two by three-run margins. Zettlein bowed twice by two runs and thrice by three. They would have needed to win three-quarters of those games to emerge with a 35-34 combined record against the mighty Reds.

On the opposite end of the pitching spectrum was poor William Eckloff “Bill” Stearns of Washington. He hurled 700 innings for the various Washington entrants and the Hartford Dark Blues (1874). His tenacity and dedication to the game is unquestionable, but his pitching prowess was always very suspect, and having no offense behind him solidified the results. No one in the NA pitched more against Boston and came up winless than Stearns, 0-18.

As a teenager in June 1871 Stearns subbed for Olympics starter Asa Brainard twice and won both games quite easily, 16-3 and 13-8, but such success was not to come in the future as Bill ended his career at 13-64. He allowed the Reds 20-plus runs six times, including the opening game of 1872 (26-3). Half of his Red Stocking decisions were decently close, the other half were plain routs. The average score was 15-5, but he did lose twice by one run, 9-8 in 1873 and 7-6 in 1874 (at Hartford). In both, his club had a good chance to beat the Reds but failed. In consecutive games on October 5 and 6, 1874, Stearns lost 7-4 and 7-6. William “Cherokee” Fisher was the regular starter for Hartford in 1874, but by August third baseman Bill Boyd was injured and Fisher often played third, Stearns getting more starts. Fisher was the sixth NA pitcher to notch 1,000 innings (1,087⅔) but was 1-9 against Boston. In the 7-6 loss on October 6, infielder Fisher was 0-for-5 and made five errors. In the last of the ninth, Hartford rallied for two runs but Spalding closed them and Stearns down. Days later Stearns took another Boston defeat at the South End Grounds, 11-8.

It is sad that he couldn’t have come up with a single win against the repeating champions because Bill Stearns, a government clerk, was a double war hero. Born in 1853 and not yet even a teenager, he served in the Civil War in several capacities and later volunteered for service in Puerto Rico in the Spanish-American War. Various stomach illnesses he suffered there and while returning home by ship caused his death on December 30, 1898.1 He and his son (William E. Jr., died 1933) are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

RICHARD “DIXIE” TOURANGEAU was the creator/author of the “Play Ball!” wall calendar for Tide-Mark Press from 1981 to 2005, for which he wrote more than 250 player biographies. As the 21st century began he felt an urge to know more about 19th century teams and players. While becoming comfortable with them he was credited with finding the gravesites of Mort and Fraley Rogers for the Biographical Committee and confirming those of Dave Birdsall (cleaning his headstone) and John Dickson McBride (unmarked). Dixie, SABR 1981, lives a mile from both Fenway Park and where the South End Grounds and Huntington Avenue Grounds were located. While researching the Red Stockings creation he realized that in 1870, Ivers Whitney Adams lived a third of a mile from his house, in the Highlands, now the Mission Hill section of Boston. He has written for The National Pastime and biogs and game accounts for the SABR Braves Field and County Stadium books.

 

Sources

Pitching record methodology: The author followed the Red Stockings game-by-game via the Retrosheet Game Log dates and, by consulting daily newspapers throughout, developed a running account of the Reds versus various pitchers whom they faced most often. This was also done for the 23 matchups between John McBride and George Zettlein over their five NA years.

Boston newspaper (Herald, Globe, Post, and Daily Advertiser) game accounts, Hartford Courant, Washington Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer.

New York Clipper, selected game texts.

Retrosheet.org for box scores and team game logs.

 

Notes

1 baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com/biographies/stearns_bill.html.